subtle - Exiting Arm [2008]subtle’s 2006 album, for hero:for fool, always struck me as sounding like music from the FUTURE. The way subtle morphed these rambunctious beats through some very weird production, the way that it didn’t conform to any of the tropes of indie rock and yet was somehow firmly grounded in the indie aesthetic, the way the raps had no real point of comparison in modern hip hop, and the way the whole thing was somehow catchy – all of this created the time travel effect. I mean, imagine hearing cutting edge music 10 or 20 years from now without the benefit of context. So many of the evolutionary steps that are embedded in the music – and familiar to contemporary listeners – would be lost to you. It’s going to sound familiar yet different, like how rye whiskey tastes. subtle mimic this effect by being so forward looking and unique.
subtle are still rocking the time machine with Exiting Arm, providing further evidence that they’re at the absolute forefront of whatever genre they’re supposedly in. iTunes tells me that for hero:for fool is in a genre called “Unknown” (with the exception of one track, which is unhelpfully classified as “General Hip Hop”), while Exiting Arm is simply “Rock”. This is rubbish, but I’m not sure that I could do better. Is it possible to be at the forefront of “Unclassifiable”?
Title track opener “Exiting Arm” provides all the evidence. Like most of the songs here, it’s driven by percussion – in this case, a thumping, fast rap beat. Then, like a lot of great Beatles tunes, the lyrics start with the chorus. Meantime, a whining, distorted riff weaves its way around the beat, keeping pace, and further rhythm is provided by a looping, Brian Eno-does-Microsoft hum. When the guitar drops out for the verse, we’re immediately in hip hop territory. In the course of less than four minutes subtle manipulate this tension between musical genres. The bridge at the 2 minute mark is a classic electro break, while the one forty seconds later is “Rock” – everything drops out besides the voice and the bass. Somehow, it’s all catchy as hell.
Thus, Exiting Arm is the best possible musical mindfuck. “Sick Soft Perfection” drops spooky, Amnesiac beats and pained electronic glitches under subtle’s already-weird vocals at their most disjunctive. To their credit, subtle never allow the density of the music and the ideas behind it to take over, as evidenced by the surprising moments of clarity like the rap break-down in “Unlikely Rock Shock”. And while the lyrics are largely incomprehensible, you’re occasionally given a hint that what’s being said doesn’t just sound like it might be profane, it actually is: see “what sort of armor can the average man arrange inside of him?” and “Q: what’s working man’s hope? A: they call it cope”. [Edit: Also see this fucking nutso flash site the band put together to accompany the album, featuring interactive poetry.]
The future called, they want their music back.
subtle are still rocking the time machine with Exiting Arm, providing further evidence that they’re at the absolute forefront of whatever genre they’re supposedly in. iTunes tells me that for hero:for fool is in a genre called “Unknown” (with the exception of one track, which is unhelpfully classified as “General Hip Hop”), while Exiting Arm is simply “Rock”. This is rubbish, but I’m not sure that I could do better. Is it possible to be at the forefront of “Unclassifiable”?
Title track opener “Exiting Arm” provides all the evidence. Like most of the songs here, it’s driven by percussion – in this case, a thumping, fast rap beat. Then, like a lot of great Beatles tunes, the lyrics start with the chorus. Meantime, a whining, distorted riff weaves its way around the beat, keeping pace, and further rhythm is provided by a looping, Brian Eno-does-Microsoft hum. When the guitar drops out for the verse, we’re immediately in hip hop territory. In the course of less than four minutes subtle manipulate this tension between musical genres. The bridge at the 2 minute mark is a classic electro break, while the one forty seconds later is “Rock” – everything drops out besides the voice and the bass. Somehow, it’s all catchy as hell.
Thus, Exiting Arm is the best possible musical mindfuck. “Sick Soft Perfection” drops spooky, Amnesiac beats and pained electronic glitches under subtle’s already-weird vocals at their most disjunctive. To their credit, subtle never allow the density of the music and the ideas behind it to take over, as evidenced by the surprising moments of clarity like the rap break-down in “Unlikely Rock Shock”. And while the lyrics are largely incomprehensible, you’re occasionally given a hint that what’s being said doesn’t just sound like it might be profane, it actually is: see “what sort of armor can the average man arrange inside of him?” and “Q: what’s working man’s hope? A: they call it cope”. [Edit: Also see this fucking nutso flash site the band put together to accompany the album, featuring interactive poetry.]
The future called, they want their music back.
1 comment:
now that you've (presumably) divorced the dwarf, how about direct links to torrents or pirate downloads of the review subjects?
Are u taking requests? Something like "The case for illegal downloading: an exhortation to piracy" might fit in well here too.
Post a Comment